Conventionally, in order to whiten a patients' teeth in a dental surgery, dentists apply bleach (usually containing or consisting of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)) to the teeth and will direct laser light at the bleach in order to activate it to increase the rate at which the bleach whitens the teeth. However, this conventional method of whitening teeth can only be conducted within a dental surgery due to its inherent dangers and therefore this conventional method is relatively expensive.
Another conventional method for whitening teeth involves a user self-applying a whitening toothpaste or dentifrice containing hydrogen peroxide (or another composition with an equivalent bleaching effect) within a gel or paste which has an effect of releasing between 0.1% and 3% of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) (or the equivalent of between 0.1% and 3% of hydrogen peroxide if another bleach or cleaning agent were used.) However, this conventional self-application method suffers from the disadvantage that it is slower to use; alternatively, higher levels of bleach/H2O2 can be used in order to achieve a higher activation rate but high levels can be dangerous to the teeth and indeed general health of the user.